08-18-2024, 06:15 AM
Help determining cause of arousals
Hi everyone. I'm posting because I'm looking for someone to look at my flow rate/leak data and maybe help me figure out what's going on. I've seen a lot of people recommend this forum so if anyone is able to help I'd really appreciate it.
Just as some background I was diagnosed with mild OSA (AHI 13.6 RDI 29.5) a little over a month ago via Lofta's home sleep test and have been on CPAP for about a month. Last week I switched to BiLevel as I found an amazing deal for an AirCurve 10 and figured why not try it out. The first 3 nights seemed to go pretty well despite struggling with leaks. It very well could've been placebo but it seemed to help quite a bit. Unfortunately, I had to send it back for a replacement just a few days later because something was wrong with the motor, but I still have my AirSense 10 to use for now until the replacement arrives. The past few days I've been using 12 cmH2O with EPR on 3, and was mainly using 11/7 when I still had my AirCurve 10.
I'll post some graphs from the other night below. Unfortunately I don't have access to my PC right now for OSCAR so mobile SleepHQ will have to do lol. I'm mainly curious about the arousals I'm seeing and their relationship to leak spikes/drops. It's difficult to tell if the change in leaks are causing the arousals or vice versa, and if arousals are causing the leaks, are they natural or something I should be concerned about? Often multiple will happen back to back (4-5 or so over the course of an hour) with no apparent decrease in airflow prior to the arousal. A lot of the time they're followed by erratic breathing for a period of time. I'm aware some amount of arousals during sleep is normal, but this just doesn't seem normal to me.
Anyways, I also have a pulse oximeter so maybe that will be of use in figuring out what's happening. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read. I'm open to any advice.
Just as some background I was diagnosed with mild OSA (AHI 13.6 RDI 29.5) a little over a month ago via Lofta's home sleep test and have been on CPAP for about a month. Last week I switched to BiLevel as I found an amazing deal for an AirCurve 10 and figured why not try it out. The first 3 nights seemed to go pretty well despite struggling with leaks. It very well could've been placebo but it seemed to help quite a bit. Unfortunately, I had to send it back for a replacement just a few days later because something was wrong with the motor, but I still have my AirSense 10 to use for now until the replacement arrives. The past few days I've been using 12 cmH2O with EPR on 3, and was mainly using 11/7 when I still had my AirCurve 10.
I'll post some graphs from the other night below. Unfortunately I don't have access to my PC right now for OSCAR so mobile SleepHQ will have to do lol. I'm mainly curious about the arousals I'm seeing and their relationship to leak spikes/drops. It's difficult to tell if the change in leaks are causing the arousals or vice versa, and if arousals are causing the leaks, are they natural or something I should be concerned about? Often multiple will happen back to back (4-5 or so over the course of an hour) with no apparent decrease in airflow prior to the arousal. A lot of the time they're followed by erratic breathing for a period of time. I'm aware some amount of arousals during sleep is normal, but this just doesn't seem normal to me.
Anyways, I also have a pulse oximeter so maybe that will be of use in figuring out what's happening. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read. I'm open to any advice.
